"The late afternoon sun was setting over Coldwater Canyon when the bus arrived. Students from Boyle Heights' Bravo High spilled out into TreePeople, a nature reserve and nonprofit in Coldwater Canyon Park, and took off hiking. As they looked around the sage and monkeyflower-lined path, their chatter quieted, and soon, they were writing poetry. Alina Sadibekova, a junior at the magnet medical school, sat under native oak trees, breathing in the soil-rich air with a pen in hand."
"TreePeople, is one of many green spaces she has visited with Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks, a program dreamed up by the West Hollywood poet laureate, Jen Cheng, in partnership with Bravo High English teacher Steve "Mr. V" Valenzuela. Cheng's aim is for poetry, nature and Chinese principles to inspire a love for nature in students otherwise surrounded by concrete."
Students from Boyle Heights' Bravo High hiked in TreePeople nature reserve and wrote poetry while surrounded by native plants. Alina Sadibekova described parks helping her ground herself amid busy Los Angeles life. Jen Cheng, the West Hollywood poet laureate, partnered with Bravo High teacher Steve Valenzuela to create Feng Shui Poetry in the Parks, combining poetry, nature and Chinese feng shui elements—water, wood, fire, earth and metal—to inspire students to connect with nature. Cheng explained that feng shui acts as a lens for processing big ideas and using natural metaphors. The program has grant funding through spring 2026, but future funding is uncertain due to humanities cuts.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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